•I'm interested in participating, is it still in operation? Many of the posts are quite old.

Yep! Still in business!

•Is this designed for the absolute beginner?

Yes. That said, the nitpickers will guide you to the right mindset -- but never give you the answer.

•I am hoping to find an active group working on something like this for the peer interaction. Will I find that with the Cattle Drive?

The Cattle Drive is one on one interaction. For each assignment you get paired with a nitpicker, you get told all the ways you're doing stuff wrong , then once things are the way we see fit, you get the solution.

If you have a question about an assignment, do NOT send an e-mail! Instead POST a message in the JavaRanch Big Moose Saloon forum called "Cattle Drive (java college)".

That is THIS forum, yes? The "(Java College)" made me question this.

The way I read this, I do not get one on one assistance from this "nitpicker", I rely on peers in the forum?

I'm not allowed to post code from my attempts regarding these assignments in the forum?

Please understand, I do see the value in the nitpicker, my fear is I can't do this without direct assistance. I'm concerned if I'm not allowed to post code and show exactly what I'm trying to do in the forum, or interact with an individual via email, I will fail. Am I understanding correctly how this works?

This approach is a lot like object oriented programming. The focus is on the assignments, and the methods are attached.

>•That is THIS forum, yes? The "(Java College)" made me question this.
Yep. Right here.

>•The way I read this, I do not get one on one assistance from this "nitpicker", I rely on peers in the forum?
We try to encourage you to ask questions of others in the forum. That said, you can always ask your nitpicker for additional pointers.
When posting to the forum, we ask that you don't share code/solutions so as to not spoil it for others.

>•I'm not allowed to post code from my attempts regarding these assignments in the forum?
Correct. People want to be able to come to the solutions on their own. No spoilers!

>•Please understand, I do see the value in the nitpicker, my fear is I can't do this without direct assistance. I'm concerned if I'm not allowed to post code and show exactly what I'm trying to do in the forum, or interact with an individual via email, I will fail. Am I understanding correctly how this works?
Let's go for an example.

The first task is to write a program that takes input from the command line and output it 100 times. The nitpicker will not tell you how to go about doing that, syntax-wise. You will go google/read/study, then write a solution which does what's asked, or comes close. The nitpicker will guide you with hints so you can make your program better. You go back and forth until there's nothing left to shine up. Once it passes muster, you get the solution and move on to the next assignment.

If you have questions about Java syntax, you can ask here or in Beginning Java forum. Most of your questions will be able to be answered with a simple google query, like "how do I get command line input in java" or the like.

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Hi Dustin! When I did the drive way back when, I had no prior programming experience, in any language. I just jumped in with both feet, and started paddling for my life. The nitpickers were patient, and when I got really stuck on some concept, if I needed clarification on some point, I simply sent the code snippet to my nitpicker, who helped me out. There were a lot more Cattle Drivers doing the drive then, and the discussions on this thread were very helpful as well as encouraging.
The self-directed learning style really worked for me, and I think that after completing the drive, I have a much better understanding of the value of clearly written code. The Cattle Drive encourages good coding practices, helps one develop a deeper understanding of the why of things, and it can be a whole lotta fun, too! (In a very masochistic sense of the word fun.)

I've been looking VERY closely at this, along with my own self-study, this looks like a VERY good investment in yourself. I've read having the book that is suggested is not mandatory. I did find it for $.09 used at Amazon plus $3.99 S&H. I thought it would be nice to be able to follow along with it. I see at least one as of this writing for $0.01 + $3.99 S&H, can't beat that! Look here. I wanted to have the book because the notes on each lesson refer to specific pages in that book.

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

Christopher White

Greenhorn

Posts: 4

posted 1 week ago

Awesome! I was worried b/c the link to pay is broken and I was worried y'all didn't want my money. Are there any other links to the pay option? I had to go to a page other than the cattle drive landing page to even register b/c that link doesn't get me to the registration page either.